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A Secret Affair
554 pages
A delicious game of cat-and-mouse between two notorious figures that deepens into a tender exploration of hidden scars.
What it feels like
Reading this romance feels like stepping into a dimly lit, velvet-draped drawing room where a high-stakes game of emotional chess is being played. The pace is steady and deliberate, allowing the reader to savor the crackling tension and witty banter between two characters who wear their scandalous reputations like armor. Beneath the glittering surface of Regency society and the sensual, seductive mood, the narrative is deeply introspective. Balogh's elegant prose carefully peels back the layers of both protagonists, revealing the hidden vulnerabilities and past constraints that drive their worldly facades. It is a deeply satisfying read for those who delight in watching two jaded, fiercely independent souls slowly dismantle each other's defenses and discover a profound, healing love.
- Mood
- seductive
- intimate
- scandalous
- warm
- Tone
- romantic
- wry
- sensual
- introspective
- elegant
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- hidden vulnerabilities · the burden of reputation · mutual healing · power dynamics in courtship · finding freedom after constraint
- The writing
- Elegant, emotionally perceptive, and gracefully paced, with a focus on internal dialogue and subtle shifts in feeling.
- The arc
- Moves from a calculated game of mutual seduction to a profound, vulnerable surrender of the heart.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love character-driven historical romances where two seemingly scandalous, worldly people slowly peel back each other's armor.
Content notes
- past emotional abuse
- infidelity (past, off-page)
About the book
Beloved author Mary Balogh has written her most beguiling novel yet, in which the black sheep of the scandalous Huxtable family finally meets his match--in a woman of even more wicked reputation."The Devil was about to be tamed." Her name is Hannah Reid. Born a commoner, she has been Duchess of Dunbarton ever since she was nineteen years old, the wife of an elderly duke to whom she has been rumored to be consistently and flagrantly unfaithful. Now the old duke is dead and, more womanly and beautiful than ever at thirty, Hannah has her freedom at last. And she knows just what she wants to do with it. To the shock of a conventional friend, she announces her intention to take a lover--and not just any lover, but the most dangerous and delicious man in all of upper-class England: Constantine Huxtable. Constantine's illegitimacy has denied him the title of Earl, so now he denies himself nothing... or so the ton would have it. Rumored to be living the free and easy life of a sensualist in his country estate, he always chooses recent widows for his short-lived affairs. Hannah will fit the bill nicely.But once these two passionate and scandalous figures find each other, they discover that it isn't so easy to extricate oneself from the fires of desire--without getting singed. For the duchess and the dark lord each have startling secrets to reveal, and when all is said and done, neither will be able to say which one fell in love first, who tamed whom, and who has emerged from this game of hearts with the stronger hand.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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